Where's Ted? He was supposed to meet me here...
Posted on 01/07/2006 6:08:58 PM PST by raccoonradio
Charles Kennedy, leader of Britain's third-biggest party, resigned on Saturday after support from his colleagues evaporated when he admitted he had had treatment for alcohol abuse.
The Liberal Democrats, the only major party in Britain to oppose the Iraq war, will now face a leadership contest.
Kennedy, 46, decided to step down after days of turmoil following his surprise admission on Thursday. He had previously always denied having a drink problem.
"I am standing down as leader," he told reporters at Liberal Democrat headquarters. "When nominations open (for the leadership) I shall not be putting my name forward."
He said he had received much support from rank and file members but recognized that grass roots support alone was not enough.
"It has become clear that such support is not reflected strongly enough across the Parliamentary party."
Kennedy had provoked a near mutiny amongst Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament when he refused to resign after publicly admitting his alcoholism at a news conference.
The following day, 25 of the 62 Liberal Democrat lawmakers in the 646-seat House of Commons signed a statement saying they would not serve under him as party leader beyond the weekend.
One senior party figure called him a "dead man walking."
Renewed criticism from colleagues on Saturday appears to have forced Kennedy to change his mind.
Kennedy led the party to its best showing in decades in an election last May but had on several occasions since prompted concern amongst his colleagues by appearing listless, unfocused or exhausted.
Calls for him to raise his game increased after Britain's main opposition party, the Conservatives, elected a young leader last month -- David Cameron -- who, polls show, has made swift inroads into the political dominance of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party.
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